Wednesday, 4 February 2015

Cousin Angelica (La Prima Angélica) [1974]

In Cousin Angelica, his rich, complex and
mesmerizing interpretation of history, Saura masterfully portrayed the scars of
a generation through the prism of memory. The first of 3 films that used memory
as a narrative device – it was followed by Cria Cuervosand Elisa, Vida Mia, it polarized
the locals upon its release, can be considered as a key precursor to Theo’s films
(The Traveling Players and The Hunters in particular) both
structurally and thematically, and comprised of flashbacks stylistic
inspirations for which can perhaps be traced to Wild Strawberries. Luis (José Luis López Vázquez), a soft-spoken,
unmarried, middle-aged man, during his trip to Segovia to honor his mother’s dying
wishes, is flooded by long-suppressed memories of his stay there as a 10-year
old during the eve of Spanish Civil War in the fateful summer of 1936. Three
strands played key roles here – the political differences between his pro-Republican
parents, who were fighting for the Republican cause, and his maternal uncle who
was pro-Franco; impositions of the Catholic Church; and his unreconciled
relationship with his titular cousin. In a fascinating creative decision, the
past here wasn’t just shown but re-enacted, with Luis placed directly in it;
further, akin to Buñuel’s That Obscure Object of Desire, María Clara, as 10-year old Angélica in past
and Angélica’s (Lina Canalejas) daughter in present,
and Fernando Delgado, as Angélica’s fascist father in past and her businessman
husband in present, played dual roles. Like Theo would also memorably do, the
film often traversed temporally within a single shot, unforgettably merged the
political with the personal, and made glorious use of washed-out color photography
and haunting score to astoundingly evoke the open wounds of a fractured nation
and a profound sense of melancholia and loss.